Codex Seraphinus
The '''Codex Seraphinus '''is a mysterious tome discovered in the attic of a White City magic shop in 1404 OCA. The book contains over two hundred pages of text written in a mysterious, flowery script that has yet to be deciphered as it bears little resemblance to any known written alphabet. The passages are broken by dozens of colorful drawings depicting bizarre and alien creatures and plants, as well as what look like humans wearing strange clothes. Some theorize that it is a field guide for another plane of existence, but to this day nobody knows who wrote it or how it got where it was and it remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of modern times. Discovery & Analysis The word "Seraphinus" comes from the elvish words "serap" which means "paper," and "hinus" which means "mystery" or "enigma." The word "codex" comes from an old Common-tongue word meaning "book" or "tome," so the approximate translation of the book's name is "tome of paper mysteries." The Codex was discovered in 1404 in the attic of a magic store in White City, owned by an aging wizard named Trevor Bellark. During his spring cleaning, he found the tome tucked away under some dusty old scrolls and found that he could not recall ever having seen it before. After bringing the codex to librarians at Temple Hill College, a team of top cryptographers, runeologists, and linguists attempted to crack the book but were completely baffled. To this day, nobody can decipher any part of the work. There are three principal theories about the origin of the book. The first is that it originated from another plane and appeared in Bellark's shop mysteriously- this is the most popular theory, as the alien creatures and text within the book appear nowhere in the history of Galapygos (not to mention some are physically impossible). The second theory is that somebody sold the book to Bellark but is in his advanced age, he simply forgot the origin of the book. The third (least popular) theory states that Bellark wrote the work himself and passed it off as genuine to achieve fame. Bellark vehemently denied such accusations until the day of his death. Legacy The Codex remains a popular unsolved mystery, and is discussed often in academic circles, especially those concerned with magic and linguistics. The tome is a well-known legend among the Corganan populace, so much so that the elvish word "hinus," meaning "mystery," has entered the popular lexicon as slang for something unknown or mysterious. The well-known phrase "that's a hell of a hinus" is just one example. Trevor Bellark later sold his magic shop at a high price to a team of arcane researchers who searched the place high and low for signs of connectivity to other planes, but ultimately found nothing conclusive. Bellark used the money to retire comfortably to Elssyia, where he lived until his death in 1410 OCA. The magic shop was later closed for several years, then re-opened in 1433 OCA as an oddities museum by local antiques dealer Rafael Selman. He bills it as the birthplace of the Codex and draws dozens of curious patrons each day. Gallery Presented here is a sampling of some of the bizarre contents of the Codex. A copy of the codex prepared by librarians is available for viewing in the Temple Hill College library. dIzV5IFh.jpg J9Qut06h.jpg zIewVnth.jpg LklWrf7h.jpg 00hTxpmh.jpg IgKKriih.jpg See Also *Temple Hill College *Rafael Selman Category:Artifacts Category:Items